


If Our Lives Align

by ArtForRogue



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, First Meetings, Galra Headcanons, Galra Keith (Voltron), M/M, Shiro POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-17 21:00:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16981719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtForRogue/pseuds/ArtForRogue
Summary: After several years of friendship, Shiro feels he's earned the right to learn what Blade of Marmora Commander Keith looks like beneath his mask. Turns out, Keith's reason for hiding is a lot more complex than anyone thought.





	If Our Lives Align

**Author's Note:**

> This is rushed, but I wanted to get it out before Season 8 dropped. Enjoy!  
> Inspired by "Born Again Teen" by Lucius & all Galra!Keith art on Tumblr

The Blade of Marmora and Voltron started off with a rocky alliance. The Blades were prone to their secrets, and Voltron was stressed enough with countless other alliances and impending doom that slow diplomacy was akin to death. Allura was more refined in this area than any of the other Paladins were, but even she lost her temper once the Blades revealed that they would only meet on their conditions, or not at all.

That was two years ago.

Though the Coalition was born of an accumulation of different alien species, no one could deny the specific importance of the Blades. Reconnaissance missions were Voltron-exclusive events, but anything that had the chance of turning violent now had Blades lurking in the shadows. As the group was formed exclusively of Galra, the species currently responsible for enslaving the universe, there had initially been reluctance from rescued planets to cooperate. Accusations were thrown around, ugly and steeped in rooted stereotypes, that Voltron was being swayed and Galra could never, should never be trusted even if they fought in rebel colors.

It was hard to dispel those hateful views, but the Galra rebels proved themselves time and again, consistently, until the armor of a Blade of Marmora was synonymous with Voltron itself.

Shiro certainly appreciated their cooperation.

Missions went smoothly when everyone worked as a concise team, and Lance had finally stopped jumping every time a Blade materialized from the shadows, so that was an improvement. There were strange friendships forming too, here and there. Shiro noticed a particular kinship between Hunk and Ulaz centered on trying to make rations somewhat more edible, and Pidge was always asking after Regris for one reason or another.

Kolivan and Krolia were the leaders of the Blades, and usually one or the other led the debriefs with the team. But occasionally a third head would pop up, hovering in the back at a respectful distance, never saying anything but always standing at taunt attention. Shiro always assumed it was just a random guard – until one day Krolia motioned him forward to stand beside her.

“I’ll be leading a recon mission of my own, so I’ll be sending Keith in my stead.” She glanced down at Keith, maybe waiting for some kind of reaction, but a smooth mask separated Keith from the rest of them. The Galra woman wasn’t normally very emotive, but Shiro could have sworn he saw a small prideful smile spread across her face before she turned back. “You’ll find no better pilot among the Blades than my son, Princess.”

Shiro took another moment to study Keith. It was a rather human name for a Galra – though it too started with a ‘K’, which seemed a pattern for his particular branch of family – and he was shorter than most Galra Shiro had seen, with a lithe build that spoke of elegant death.

Turns out he was just as good a pilot as Krolia vouched – Keith saw them safe to and from the Dragon’s Teeth as if it was a casual stroll to the market. It must have counted as some kind of test for Keith, because they saw a lot more of him after that.

He substituted for Kolivan more often than not, and while Shiro missed talking to the older Galra, he didn’t’ mind his replacement so terribly. Keith was soft-spoken and obviously still nervous around the Paladins – he faltered over Lance’s teasing comments and entered most conversations with his arms crossed. Shiro couldn’t remember what mission it was – maybe the fifth or sixth? – when Keith finally initiated a conversation completely separate from mission details.

They were delivering supplies to a nearby planet system. It was nothing off the standard, but they were still occupied by Empire forces so Voltron enlisted the help of the Blades. The drones were easily dispatched and the locals coaxed from their hiding places. Keith and Shiro were assigned to rations, standing side by side as the locals lined up and collected their fair amount.  
Shiro expected to do the work in quiet, never one to force a conversation, when Keith muttered,

“They look like Kosmo.”

It was so sudden; Shiro couldn’t form an adequate response. “Uh?”

Keith flinched – obviously he thought he had said it low enough that Shiro wouldn’t hear. He picked up another crate and handed it over to the next person in line, buying for time, clearly as flustered as Shiro. When he settled back next to Shiro, he stumbled a little over his words, “Oh, I uh, the locals. Their markings are similar to my dog.”

The locals were vaguely wolf-like, bipedal and with stark black and blue markings. They looked other-worldly, not like man’s best friend. “Do you have a picture?” It seemed like the polite thing  
to ask.

It wasn’t until all the rations were passed out that Keith was able to dig out his holo-pad and show Shiro a picture. Up close, Shiro marveled more at Keith’s pointed claw-like fingers than the blurry picture of Kosmo. He wondered if the skin under the bodysuit would be warm, flesh-like, or furry like most other Galra. Shaking himself from that thought, Shiro fought to focus back on the picture in front of him.

“Wh…you said he was a dog.”

“Not an Earth dog.” Keith scoffed. “He’s a Cosmic Wolf.”

“Is that a drone leg he’s chewing on?” Shiro blinked a few times just to confirm that, yes, that was indeed an Empire drone leg being crushed by Kosmo’s jaws.

“He’s a good boy.”

The conversation must have stuck with Keith, because he brought Kosmo along the next time his assistance was requested. Shiro stared down at the dog – wolf? – and held out his hand for approval. Kosmo nosed at the metal plating, decided Shiro was OK, and gave him a tentative lick. “Good boy, Kosmo.” Shiro cooed, turning his palm to give the blue fur some friendly scratchies.

He didn’t expect Kosmo to blip out of existence, but he did just that, blipping next to Pidge and startling a scream from her. Shiro let out a whoosh of breath when Keith just shrugged.

OK, magic Cosmic Wolf, duly noted.

Keith wasn’t their Blade support for every mission, but Shiro was glad anytime he saw the familiar frame strolling along the outskirts of the base, Kosmo by his side. He wasn’t sure if Keith would consider them friends, but Shiro certainly did. Greetings evolved from awkward nods to half-hugs. Conversations ranged from new recruits and their horrid mistakes to the best thing to eat on whatever planet they were headed to next.

It was easy falling into a friendship with Keith, almost like they had been friends through lifetimes instead of just a few years. The only problem was that Keith refused to remove his mask in front of the Paladins.

Not that it was a pressing issue for Shiro – the Blades had every right to their privacy just like anyone else – but this was year two and he was dying to know.

Because as much as everyone loved to peg him for the Garrison Golden boy, Shiro lived for gossip. He could put on a cute little smile and play coy, but he liked nosing around same as everyone else.

The team already had a few bets going; Lance was betting Keith was hiding because he was ugly, Pidge guessed he looked exactly like some mix of Krolia and Kolivan, Hunk was hoping for big fluffy ears, and Allura guessed that he was much younger than he let on while Coran guessed older, with a handsome mustache. Shiro was abstaining from the betting pool, only because he didn’t want the others to know what he hoped Keith looked like. What his imagination had oh so helpfully supplied, late at night.

There was no way to bring it up, and no one had the means to pry the mask from Keith, so eventually the betting pool fell out of memory and everyone but Shiro stopped caring. It didn’t come up again until an especially precarious mission required Keith and another Paladin to meet up incognito on an enemy-occupied planet a few varga out. “It would be a death sentence for either of you to wear your armor.” Kolivan slowly explained on the other side of the monitor. “Shiro, you’ll be noticeable no matter what, but we can provide more traditional clothing to help where we can.”

“Understood.” Shiro glanced to Keith and with a moment’s hesitation, asked the obvious. “How will I recognize Keith if he’s not to wear his armor?”

“Oh.” Kolivan turned the deathly-still figure next to him. “Keith?”

The fact that Kolivan was asking permission should have alarmed the team immediately, but they were too excited with the prospect of finally seeing Keith that no one bothered to comment on it. Keith seemed to be going through some internal struggle, but eventually he relented and raised his hand to his hood. He flicked it back with ease, and with it fell the illusion of the mask.

Keith was human.

Well, no. Shiro squinted, unsure what he saw. Maybe partially human. It was no secret that Krolia was Keith’s mother, but Keith never mentioned his father but to say that he had died long ago in the fight against Zarkon. There was something distinctly human about the way Keith looked, though. His skin was just a shade shy of lavender, with distinct Galra markings on both cheeks, slashing upwards like twin scars. His hair was shoulder-length and colored underneath, just like his mother’s, but a dark blue.

The braid it was twisted into was just a few lengths short of looking exactly like Kolivan’s, but what loose hair spilled out framed a face with a firm jaw, a  
firm frown, and the prettiest purple eyes Shiro had ever seen.

Hunk let out a disappointed sigh. Those ears were only slightly pointed – no big fluffy ears for Keith. Shiro found himself moderately disappointed, as well, though he refused to acknowledge it.

“Whoa whoa whoa!” Once again, Lance was here to save the day by asking the question they all were dying to know the answer to. “What kind of Galra are you?”

Keith blinked down at Lance with the most disinterested look Shiro had ever seen. “A half-human one.”

“You’re from Earth?” This time it was Allura that spoke up.

“My mom brought me back to the Blades when my dad died.” Keith gave a small shrug of indifference, but there was a sad tone to his voice. “I was only on Earth for a few years. The Blades are my home now.”

“But you never told us! That’s so cool!” Pidge and Hunk grabbed at each other, both sharing in the excitement of discovering their first half-human Galra. If Keith managed to make it out of their assault of questions intact, not only would Shiro be impressed, he might be obligated to apologize on behalf of his team members.

The bubbling excitement from the Paladins made Keith shift uncomfortably, probably thinking of a way to escape, but he managed to choke out, “I, uh, didn’t expect you all to be so enthusiastic.”

“We are culturally bound to introduce you to video games.”

“And all the Earth food we squirreled away!”

“Should we bring him to meet Kaltenecker?”

The voices mushed and melted together, everyone throwing out ideas to introduce Keith to the earth life he had been missing out on, but Shiro just kept his thoughts to himself. He wasn’t going to say anything, content to listen to the rush of words, but he caught Keith staring at him. When Keith took a quick step back and glanced away, Shiro wondered if maybe he should say something.

Too bad the reveal left him weak in the knees.

“Alright team, let’s get back to work.” Shiro motioned to the star map they were supposed to be reviewing and was met with a round of booing. “C’mon. Mission, remember?”

Kolivan went back to the mission review with the ease of a father used to rowdy children, and the meeting concluded. Shiro thought that would be the end of that, and went to follow the others out, when Keith called for him. “Shiro, can you hang back?”

He retraced his steps and stood before the monitor, looking up into the galaxy Keith held in his eyes. Fuck.

“I’m sorry for deceiving you.” Keith blurted.

“What?” Shiro couldn’t help but laugh at the completely unexpected apology. “You did nothing like that, Keith.”

“When Mom told me the Paladins of Voltron were human, I think she expected me to be happy. It was more like…” Keith bit his lower lip, glancing away. This was the side of Keith that was hidden by the mask – and what a shame that was. “I didn’t know what was expected of me. So I let you continue to believe I was just Galra.” He finally managed to slide his gaze back to Shiro and met him with a small, shy smile. “I’m glad this doesn’t change anything.”

“Of course not, Keith. I would be friends with you if you were Galra, human, or any other alien species.” It wasn’t a lie, either. His heart ached at the thought of losing Keith to something as simple as racial differences.

“Thanks, Shiro.” Elongated canines poked through as Keith’s smile widened. Shiro wheezed.

“Well, uh, I haven’t been completely truthful with you either. Shiro is just my nickname.” Shiro rubbed his palm along the back of his neck, wondering why he was even sharing this. “My first name is Takashi.”

Keith tilted his head, slow to try out the name. It sat heavy and odd with misuse on his tongue but the way he said was still filled with even reverence to blind Shiro. “Takashi…?”

“See? Now we’re even.” There was no guarantee his heart would continue to beat if Keith said it again as soft as he did. He was quick to add, “If that’s all, I really do need to go.”

The admittance of other plans made Keith droop just slightly on the monitor, but he was quick to perk back up and flash his fangs in a smile. “Of course. Sorry to keep you, Takashi.”

When they met again a week later, Shiro was left wondering if he would survive seeing Keith in the flesh. The rendezvous point was a small cafe nestled in the outskirts of a desert planet, where Shiro was currently hiding in a booth and worrying himself to death. The cool drink in his hands had long made them go numb, but Shiro wasn’t prone to notice, his gaze trained on the sand dunes outside and the blurry mirage that warped the horizon.

The clothes Kolivan procured for the mission reminded Shiro of the old Earth movie Aladdin -- he wasn’t sure it was smart to expose this much skin to the open sun, but the locals dressed the same so he just shut his mouth and ran his hand self-consciously across his flat stomach.

He was about to turn and ask for another drink when a whirlwind of sand caught his eye. A lone, red hoverbike was skidding over the sand dunes like a stone on flat water and tearing across at a speed Shiro could only balk at. Atop, grinning like a mad-man, was Keith.

Shiro couldn’t make out details until the hoverbike broke over the last sand dune -- Keith thudded back to earth and sped on like it was nothing, black hair whipping behind him in a frenzy. By the time he parked, pushed through the biting winds, and entered the cafe, Keith looked like a well-fucked vision. He paused for only a moment at the doorway, framed in the red neon, before making his way over to Shiro.

With a conscious effort, Shiro was able to close his jaw and offer Keith a genuine smile in greeting. He rose to his feet and met the Galra halfway in their customary hug. “I never thought I’d get the chance to see your hoverbike in person.”

Keith brushed sand from his hair with a lazy gesture and returned the smile. “When I heard we were meeting here, I knew I had to drag her out for one more ride. Glad I could.” His breath caught when they pulled apart, eyes dragging up and down Shiro’s body like he couldn’t believe what was laid out in front of him.

“These outfits are pretty embarrassing, huh?” Shiro would have felt the warm rush of shame run through him, but Keith was appraising him like a starving man before a free steak dinner. “...Keith?”

 

The other man’s head snapped up, yellow flooding his sclera in a blink. Most Galra already had yellow there, so Shiro didn’t know what to make of that change, but even he knew what the hunger of lust looked like. He couldn’t imagine Keith being so careless with his emotions in the middle of a mission, especially now, but then he realized that Keith was used to hiding behind his mask.

Holy shit.

“Your eyes, Keith.” Shiro whispered.

That snapped Keith out of it. With another blink the yellow was gone, and Keith was all but throwing himself into the other side of the booth. Shiro slid in right after and watched as Keith took a few steadying breaths. Their gazes met, gunsteel gray versus galactic purple, and Keith cursed softly under his breath. “Order number thiry-one on the menu.” He bit out.

Shiro hurried to flip over his menu, scanning the numerical order until he landed on the last entry -- thirty. Hmm. He waved over the waitress, gave an order for two number thirty-ones, and sat back in his booth. It took a moment, but Shiro finally realized Keith was wearing the same embarrassing outfit but in a red-black combo. The black crop top ended just above his ribs, with a small tear-shaped opening carved at the neckline. Overtop that was some kind of long jacket made of red silks, ends curling on thighs nestled in dark harem pants.

Shiro’s eyes trailed from the bones of his ribs down his abs and the slight dusting of dark hair below his navel, back up to the nervous set of his jaw, then down to the dark rider gloves he wore.

He hasn't seen those since Keith's birthday. “I’m glad you like the gloves.” Shiro murmured, hoping to ease some of the tension from Keith. It worked, moderately, because Shiro got to see Keith uncurl his claws by a fraction.

Quiet settled over them, leaving Shiro to wonder what the hell was going on. He took a glance around the cafe, saw it was empty, and turned back to Keith just in time to see him staring. This time, Keith’s gaze did not waver. He uncurled himself from the end of the booth and adjusted himself until they were sitting across from one another. The waitress appeared just in time to set a lone piece of cherry pie between them, thanked them for waiting, and disappeared.

Shiro was pretty sure he requested two slices, but he wasn’t about to look away just yet. “Keith, are you OK?”

Keith ignored him in favor of taking a utensil and scooping himself a piece of pie. When the pie was halfway-gone, Keith shoved the plate at Shiro. He made a face but accepted the offering, chewing slowly in hope Keith would finally talk.

“When I was brought home with Mom, I was indistinguishable from a human child.” Keith started. “It wasn’t until later that we realized my Galra side would take...coaxing to come out. There were foods that had the necessary nutrients, so it wasn’t a difficult process. I matured as naturally as any other Galra.”

“Piloting was always easy to me, so that’s where I trained. Kolivan and Mom still insisted I know how to use my Luxite blade, though, so there was no rest for me. When I wasn’t flying a ship I was in the training hall getting my ass knocked to the ground and my neck cut.”

“It had been so long since I last talked to a human that when I heard of….your team….I thought I would be disgusted by the foreignness of you. That was the life I left behind. I knew nothing but the Galra.”

“But Shiro...you felt different from the moment I met you. I could feel your presence thrumming, like some living essence, demanding to be seen, even though we weren’t even on the same planet.”

“I hid behind my mask for a long time because I was scared of revealing myself to everyone, yeah, but,” Keith bit his tongue and screwed his eyes shut, looking pained as he whispered, “you drive me to be more and it scares me.”

The clatter of metal on ceramic startled Shiro into taking a breath -- he hadn’t realized Keith’s words had rattled him so thoroughly. “Keith, what are you saying?”

“I accidentally Issued a Claim.”

Those words meant nothing to Shiro. He stared ahead, unsure, and fought to understand why Keith was hiding his face in his hands. “Uh?”

“It's the Galra equivalent of asking you to marry me.” Keith choked out. “And you said unknowingly said yes.”

Shiro couldn't wheeze out a reply to that if he wanted to. There were no words left in him. His spirit was leaving the cafe, climbing into Black, and launching himself into the nearest star.

“How … long ….”

“Since I escorted you around the Dragon's Teeth. Two years. I was going to revoke it but no one would fucking challenge me because they thought it was funny, and I'd rather die than admit my crush so there was no way to enlist your help,”

“Crush…?”

“Until ignoring it no longer worked because here we are, alone in this little cafe in the middle of nowhere, about to be murdered by the Empire, and you're still my husband.” In a rush Keith picked up the empty plate and flipped it over, scattering crumbs and red filling onto the cheap covering of their booth.

Taped to the bottom was their star map along with a note in frantic red. 'Run’.

Shiro felt them now -- crawling over Black's cloaked form out back, searching frantically for an opening they would never find. “Shit.” They made for the back door, where their waitress stood with a photon gun. She gave them a small shake of her head and pointed to the bathroom. Keith honored her with a two-fingered salute and dragged Shiro where she directed.

“How many do you think there are?”

“Can't tell. Too many for us.” Keith grunted as he pried open the window. It popped open with an obnoxiously loud screech and dropped to the sand below. With one glance back, Keith slid through the opening and clambered up to the roof. His hand dropped down a second later and Shiro grabbed it, fitting his boot to the window frame before jumping up.

There were maybe ten, fifteen Galra drones swarming like bugs around the back of the cafe. Keith's hoverbike sat unmolested for now, but it wouldn't get them very far if the drones decided to start shooting. “Can you call Black here?” Keith asked. Shiro whipped his gaze over in time to see Keith drawing his luxite blade from its sheath.

“Yeah, she'll clear us a path,” Shiro licked his lips and turned back to the swarm, “until they start shooting.”

“Just get Black here, Shiro. I'll get you home safe.” Keith crouched, ready, and leapt into the fray as soon as Black roared in answer. The cloak of invisibility dropped to reveal the giant mecha lion in all her glory seconds before she ran to the cafe. Sand dunes exploded before her in a fine spray, and what drones weren't fast enough were crushed beneath her feet.

Shiro jumped from the roof as soon as Black was close enough, grappling a hand on her jaw and pulling himself up. “Keith!” He sought for his Galra friend in the crowd, then finally found him taking on the drones as if their sheer numbers were nothing but a minor inconvenience. But his purple gaze snapped up once he heard Shiro's yell.

He stabbed another drone in the neck, threw his knife to his other hand and used the moment to spear another in the back. When the body started to shudder, Keith grappled up and jumped, hand held out for Shiro's own. Black snapped them up, whisking them off to safety.

Shiro let out a shaky breath, the blanketing darkness of Black's mouth giving him a moment to recover in privacy. He could hear Keith's own labored breaths beside him, and relaxed. They had survived. “Are you okay, Keith?”

“Yeah.” Keith hissed in response, bumping shoulders with Shiro when he tried to sit up. “Just a scrape.”

“Oh. Good.” When they finally collected their breath, Shiro led Keith up to the cockpit and took the pilot’s seat. Black rumbled with content when she felt Shiro settle and the dashboard welcomed him with a sudden wash of purple lights.

Keith ran his hand slow over the metal plating, marveling over the show of technological advances. “I didn't realize she was so receptive to you.”

“Oh, she's probably just happy my husband is here and safe.” Shiro meant it as a teasing joke, but his voice cracked halfway through and Keith winced with sympathy.

“Shiro, I'm so sorry--”

“I just wish you had told me sooner.” Shiro blurted.

“That would have been the mature thing, yeah.” There was nowhere else to sit in Black, so Keith crossed his arms and leaned against the dash instead. “I just didn't know how to broach such a stupid mistake.”

“Are you going to tell me how it even happened?” Not that Shiro claimed to know Galra culture, but he didn't even remember Keith doing anything odd to him that fateful day.

Keith grumbled and sank deeper into his crossed arms. It was clearly a subject he still didn't want to broach, but Shiro was relieved when he finally said, “My scent got rubbed off on you by accident. I think we mixed up our cloaks near the end. Galra noses are attuned to that kind of thing so it was just … really obvious.”

“And how does that equate to me agreeing to marriage?”

“Because you continued to use that same cloak for each mission after that.” Keith rolled his wrist as he fought for a similar situation. “It’s like the concept of wearing an article of your lover’s clothing. It’s very…”

Possessive. A wire of heat ran down the back of Shiro’s spine and he balked at the feeling. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he could very clearly imagine Keith lounging around in his sweater and absolutely nothing else. Fuck.

“Now that you know, it’ll be easy to fix. I’ll just take my cloak back, we’ll scrub you clean of my scent, and that’ll be that.” Keith’s fanged smile wavered when Shiro just stared at him, dumbfounded.

He thought back to the way Keith appraised him in the cafe. How Shiro couldn’t imagine Keith gone from his life. How their friendship felt so easy and effortless, like it spanned lifetimes and alternate realities. Even if their close proximity had been due to this mishap...Shiro couldn’t imagine things any less. In fact, if he wasn’t mistaken…

“Did you dislike other’s thinking we were together?” Shiro asked.

It startled Keith into a moment of quiet. Then he slowly shook his head. “No. I didn’t dislike it, Takashi.”

“Then with the condition that we only be honest with each other from now on,” Shiro tilted his head up at Keith, smiled, and murmured, “why not make it official?”

Keith didn’t believe Shiro at first. Honestly, it was something of a challenge for Shiro to accept, as well.

Kissing for the first, third, hundredth time helped.

Moving in together helped.

Letting Keith fuck him into the sheets and hearing him growl ‘I love you’ really _really_ helped.

But Shiro liked the small, reserved ceremony filled with friends and family and the gold bands on their fingers the most.

**Author's Note:**

> I was gonna have the Blade code be  
> 1 plate = danger  
> 2 plate = take your time, safe
> 
> but couldn't think how to work that in.  
> Also I keep forgetting that first r in Marmora....whoops


End file.
